Mountains - Abode of Gods

[Guest guest]

Mountains - The Abode of the Gods

 

In the words of the ancient Indian poet, Kalidasa:

 

"The Himalaya is a great devatatma, a great spiritual presence,

stretching from the west to the eastern sea like a measuring rod to

gauge the world's greatness." The creativity of this genius was that

he was able to see it as a single unity this overwhelmingly powerful

image of the mighty Himalayan range.

 

Even the mention of mountains in India brings the word Himalaya

immediately to the mind. The Himalayan range as a whole is sacred

because it is in the north, which for Hindus is the direction of

wisdom and spiritual rebirth. It also includes the highest peaks in

the world, which are a sight to inspire awe and wonder in people of

any race or creed. Even Mount Olympus in Greek mythology would pale

in front of the reverence shown to the Himalayas in the Hindu

stories. Neither is Mount Fuji as significant to the Japanese as the

Himalayas to Hindus. From times immemorial, the Himalayas have given

out speechless invitations to sages, anchorites, yogis, artists,

philosophers et al. The western Himalayas teems with esteemed

pilgrimages so much so that the entire Kumayun range can be called

Tapobhumi or land of spiritual practices. Where else apart from

Kailash and Manas-sarovar in the Himalayas could an all-abnegating

Shiva roam with his bull?

 

>From the Himalayas has originated so many life-giving perennial

rivers that have sustained such a rich civilization. Of these the

Ganges is the most respected one. Shankaracharya (788-820), who

propounded the Mayavad doctrine, referred to the holy river as the

goddess of divine essence, and established one of the four cardinal

hermitages in the Garhwal Himalayas.

Scientist J C Bose(1858-1937), also ventured into the Himalayas, as

expounded in his sagely philosophical essay Bhagirathir Utsha

Sandhane, to explore how the Ganges flows down from the "matted locks

of Shiva".

 

 

Apart from being a natural heritage, the Himalayas is a spiritual

heritage for the Hindus. The most visited places of pilgrimage in

India are located in the Himalayas. Prominent among them are the Nath

troika of Amarnath, Kedarnath and Badrinath. There are also three

seminal Sikh pilgrimage spots in the Uttarakhand Himalayas. All sages

and prophets have found the Himalayas best for spiritual pursuits.

Swami Vivekananda founded his Mayavati Ashram 50 km from Almora. The

Mughul emperor Jehangir said about Kashmir, the westernmost extent of

the Himalayas: "If there is a paradise on earth, it's here".

 

As the loftiest mountains on Earth, the Himalayas have come to embody

the highest ideals and aspirations. The sight of their sublime peaks,

soaring high and clean above the dusty, congested plains of India,

has for centuries inspired visions of transcendent splendor and

spiritual liberation.

 

Invoking such visions, the Puranas, ancient works of Hindu stories,

have this to say of Himachal, or the Himalayas:

 

"In the space of a hundred ages of the Gods, I could not describe to

you the glories of Himachal; that Himachal where Siva dwells and

where the Ganges falls like the tendril of a lotus from the foot of

Vishnu. There are no other mountains like Himachal, for there are

found Mount Kailas and Lake Manasarovar. As the dew is dried up by

the morning sun, so are the sins of mankind by the sight of

Himachal."

 

The Himalayas are sacred for followers of five Asian religions--

Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and the indigenous Bon tradition

of Tibet. These religions revere the mountains as places of power

where many of their most important sages and teachers have attained

the heights of spiritual realization. Himalayas are often refered to

as devatma or God-souled. Giri-raj or the King of Mountains, as the

Himalayas is often called, is also a deity by itself in the Hindu

pantheon. Hindus view the Himalayas as supremely sacred, as a

corollary to seeing god in every atom of the universe. The mighty

altitude of the Himalayas is a constant remembrance to the loftiness

of the human soul, its vastness. a prototype for the universality of

human consciousness.

 

Hindus, by far the largest group in India with more than 800 million

adherents, regard the entire range as the God Himalaya, father of

Parvati, the wife of Siva. King of the mountains, Himalaya lives high

on a peak with his queen, the Goddess Mena, in a palace ablaze with

gold, attended by divine guardians, maidens, scent-eating creatures

and other magical beings. His name, composed of the words hima and

alaya, means in the Sanskrit language of ancient India the "abode of

snow." As a reservoir of frozen water, the body and home of the God

Himalaya is the divine source of sacred rivers, such as the Ganges

and Indus, that sustain life on the hot and dusty plains of northern

India.

 

The ancient poets and sages regarded the range as more than a realm

of snow; they saw it as an earthly paradise sparkling with streams

and forests set beneath beautiful peaks. Above and beyond the earthly

paradise of the Himalayas lie the heights of heaven.

 

1. Mount Kailash: One peak in the Himalayan region stands out above

all others as the ultimate sacred mountain for more than half-a-

billion people in India, Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan. Hidden behind the

main range of the Himalayas at a high point of the Tibetan Plateau

northwest of Nepal, Mount Kailas rises in isolated splendor near the

sources of four major rivers of the Indian subcontinent--the Indus,

Brahmaputra, Sutlej and Karnali. Hindus also regard Kailash as the

place where the divine form of the Ganges, the holiest river of all,

cascades from heaven to first touch the Earth and course invisibly

through the locks of Siva's hair before spewing forth from a glacier

140 miles to the west.

 

At only 22,028 feet, Kailash is thousands of feet lower than Everest

and other Himalayan peaks. Yet its extraordinary setting and

appearance more than make up for its modest height. Kailash retains

its grandeur when viewed from a distance. More than any other peak in

the Himalayas, it opens the mind to the cosmos around it, evoking a

sense of infinite space that makes one aware of a vaster universe

encompassing the limited world of ordinary experience. It has served

as an inspiration for numerous Hindu temples and shrines in the

distant plains of India. The sight of the peak has a powerful effect,

bringing tears to the eyes of many who behold it, leaving them

convinced that they have glimpsed the abode of the Gods beyond the

round of life and death. Neither Hindus, Buddhists, nor any Tibetans

would ever contemplate trying to climb Kailash.

 

Hindus view Kailash as the divine dwelling place of God Siva and

Goddess Parvati. There, as the Supreme Yogi, naked and smeared with

ashes, His matted hair coiled on top of His head, He sits on a tiger

skin, steeped in the indescribable bliss of meditation. From His

position of aloof splendor on the summit, His third eye blazing with

supernatural power and awareness, the lord of the mountain calmly

surveys the joys and sorrows, the triumphs and tragedies, the entire

play of illusion that make up life in the world below. The power of

His meditation destroys the world of illusions that bind people to

the painful cycle of death and rebirth. When He rises to dance, He

takes on the functions of Brahma and Vishnu and creates and preserves

the universe itself.

 

2. Goddess of Bliss: Nanda Devi

 

In addition to the paradise She shares with Siva on Kailas, Parvati

has her abode on a number of other mountains. As Nanda Devi,

the "Goddess of Bliss," She dwells in beauty on the lovely peak of

that name in the Himalayas northeast of Delhi. The highest mountain

in India outside the principality of Sikkim, Nanda Devi soars in

alluring curves of rock and ice to culminate in a delicate summit,

poised at 25,645 feet above a ring of snow peaks that form a

sanctuary protecting the Goddess from all but Her most determined

admirers. The only break in their otherwise impregnable wall of rock

and snow is the terrifying gorge of the Rishi Ganga, one of the

sources of the sacred Ganga, named after seven sages of Hindu

stories, who fled the oppression of demons to seek refuge with the

Goddess before departing this world to become enshrined as seven

stars in the constellation of Ursa Major. Shepherds and porters from

nearby villages who venture into the area believe that they can

sometimes hear the sounds of these sages--drums beating, the blare of

trumpets and the eerie barking of dogs. The few foreign mountaineers

who manage to penetrate the gorge, inching their way along the sides

of sheer cliffs that plunge thousands of feet into the river roaring

below, find themselves in a paradise of gentle meadows filled with

flowers at the foot of the sacred peak, which stands like a temple in

the middle of the sanctuary itself.

 

Nanda Devi lies in Uttarakhand, the principal area of pilgrimage in

the Indian Himalayas. This region ranks second only to Kailash and

Manasarovar in the degree of its sanctity for Hindus. Closer to the

lowlands and much more accessible, it is visited by many more

pilgrims, who come by the tens of thousands to bathe at Gomukh, the

glacial source of the Ganga, and to worship at Kedarnath and

Badrinath, lofty temples of Siva and Vishnu sequestered in narrow

valleys beneath the icy thrones of the Gods themselves. The region is

also the favorite haunt of holy men and wandering yogis, who come to

follow the example of Siva and meditate in the sharp clear air of the

heights, within sight of the peaks that lead to heaven and the goal

they seek.

 

As the Goddess who resides on the highest mountain in the region,

Nanda Devi has many shrines and temples dedicated to Her. One of the

better-known ones is in the hill station of Almora, which affords one

of the best views of the peak itself and the mountains that surround

it. Although primarily a benevolent deity, Nanda can take on the form

of Durga, the wrathful Goddess. The people of the region also view

Nanda Devi as a benevolent source of life and renewal. According to

ancient Hindu tales, a flood once covered the entire world. A sage

named Manu was warned of the impending disaster and built a boat in

which he survived. Vishnu incarnated himself as a fish and towed the

craft to safety on a mountain peak. As the waters receded, Manu

together with his family and the remnants of all living creatures

went down the slope to repopulate the Earth. The people of

Uttarakhand identify the mountain of the flood as Nanda Devi, and one

local group, the Rajis, still regard the peak as the abode of their

ancestors. According to one legend, the seven sages accompanied Manu

and remained behind to dwell in the company of the Goddess.

 

3. Annapurna and Machapuchare: Goddess Parvati dwells in yet another

form on sacred Annapurna One, named like Nanda Devi for the deity

said to reside on its summit. A range of peaks that includes

Gangapurna, Machapuchare and Annapurnas One through Four, Annapurna

rises in one long sweep above the lush green hills of central Nepal.

Seen from the tropical valley of Pokhara in the twilight before dawn,

the range's peaks appear to float like bluish-gray icebergs on a sea

of liquid shadows. Etched with shadowed flutings, the corrugated face

of Annapurna One--the highest summit at 26,545-feet--becomes a golden

backdrop to the slender pointed peak of Machapuchare, the "Fish's

Tail."

 

Annapurna means in Sanskrit "She who is filled with food." Unlike

Nanda Devi, who can take on the wrathful form of Durga, Annapurna is

regarded as a purely benevolent deity. A kindhearted Goddess of

plenty, She is the Queen of Banaras, the holy city of the Hindus on

the banks of the Ganga south of Nepal. Each year, after the autumn

harvest, the people of Banaras celebrate a festival dedicated to Her

called Annakuta, the "Food Mountain," in which they fill Her temple

with a mountain of food--rice, lentils, and sweets of all kinds to be

distributed to those who come to receive Her blessings.

 

Within the heart of the range lies a hidden basin of beautiful

meadows and glaciers, resembling the sanctuary surrounding Nanda

Devi. A curtain of rock and ice draped between mountains soaring to

over 26,000 feet completely encloses this natural amphitheater,

dropping nowhere lower than 19,000 feet except at one place. There,

an incredible gorge 12,000 feet deep slices through this otherwise

impregnable barrier, right beneath the overhanging cliffs and

glaciers of Machapuchare, one of the loveliest peaks in the Himalayas.

 

Arunachala of Tamil Nadu

 

One of the best place to see how mountains are venerated is far to

the south, where Arunachala juts out of the Tamil plain, a hundred

miles from Chennai. At the foot of Arunachala is the ashram of Ramana

Maharshi, one of the greatest spiritual masters of this century.

Though he died in 1950, Ramana's ashram today is one of the most

potent spiritual places in India, drawing people from all over the

world. The only writing Ramana ever did consisted of devotional poems

to the mountain. Arunchala, he was to say later, is the physical

embodiment of Shiva, of God Himself. Why go anywhere else?

 

According to Shiv Purana, Brahma and Vishnu emerged from Shiva, the

Unmanifest Source of all. No sooner had they come into form than they

began to argue about which of them had the superior role, as the

creator, and the protector of the universe. To stop their

quarrelling, Shiva manifested as a column of light so radiant that

both Brahma and Vishnu were temporarily blinded, and had to stop

their bickering.